The Second Ship: The Rho Agenda, Book 1

In 1948, an alien starship crash-landed in the New Mexico desert and brought with it the key to mankind’s future. Code-named the Rho Project, the landing was shrouded in secrecy, and only the highest-ranking US government and military personnel knew it existed. Until now....

The Kasari Nexus: Rho Agenda Assimilation, Book 1

Jennifer Smythe escapes Earth's invasion by the insidious Kasari race, hijacks an alien starship, and survives the deadly passage through a wormhole. But escape is short-lived.... When Jennifer emerges on the new world of Scion, she is confronted by the same deadly enemy. Now the Kasari have sided with the planet's angel-like elite against the warrior underclass, but with the intent of ultimately ruling both.

The Altreian Enigma: Rho Agenda Assimilation, Book 2

When Mark and Heather Smythe saved Earth from the conquest-hungry Kasari Collective, they thought their work was done. But the world's vast new government continued its quest to make extraterrestrial contact. And now, as a new gateway is activated to welcome the Kasari, whom world leaders take to be benefactors, only the Smythes stand a chance of countering their planet's invasion and subjugation by a race of ruthless conquerors.

The Lost Patrol: Lost Starship Series, Book 5

Maddox and the crew are on their own, facing perils inside the ship and terrifying alien dangers outside in one of the remotest regions of the Orion Arm. Then they stumble upon the darkest secret of all. Unless the A.I. Galyan, Meta, Sergeant Riker and the others can help their beleaguered captain, Victory is doomed and Earth will never learn of the terrible threat gathering in the stellar darkness.

Three: Legends of the Duskwalker, Book 1

The world has collapsed, and there are no heroes any more.His name is Three, a travelling gun for hire in a dying world. He has no allegiances, no family, no ties.Against his better judgment, he accepts the mantle of protector to a sick woman on the run, and her young son. Together they set out across the plains in search of a mythic oasis, attempting to survive the forces that pursue them, and the creatures of the dark.In these dark times, a hero may yet arise.

Influx

Particle physicist Jon Grady is ecstatic when his team achieves what they've been working toward for years: A device that can reflect gravity. Their research will revolutionize the field of physics - the crowning achievement of a career. Grady expects widespread acclaim for his entire team. The Nobel Prize. Instead, his lab is locked down by a shadowy organization whose mission is to prevent at all costs the social upheaval sudden technological advances bring.

We Are Legion (We Are Bob): Bobiverse, Book 1

Bob Johansson has just sold his software company and is looking forward to a life of leisure. There are places to go, books to read, and movies to watch. So it's a little unfair when he gets himself killed crossing the street. Bob wakes up a century later to find that corpsicles have been declared to be without rights, and he is now the property of the state. He has been uploaded into computer hardware and is slated to be the controlling AI in an interstellar probe looking for habitable planets.

Not Alone

When Dan McCarthy stumbles upon a folder containing evidence of the conspiracy to end all conspiracies - a top-level alien cover-up - he leaks the files without a second thought. The incredible truth revealed by Dan's leak immediately captures the public's imagination, but Dan's relentless commitment to exposing the cover-up and forcing disclosure quickly earns him some enemies in high places.

At the Sign of Triumph: Safehold, Book 9

The Church of God Awaiting's triumph over Charis was inevitable. Despite its prosperity, the Charis was a single, small island realm. It boasted less than two percent of the total population of Safehold. How could it possibly resist total destruction? The Church had every reason to be confident of a swift, crushing victory, an object lesson to other rebels.

Dawn: Xenogenesis, Book 1

In a world devastated by nuclear war with humanity on the edge of extinction, aliens finally make contact. They rescue those humans they can, keeping most survivors in suspended animation while the aliens begin the slow process of rehabilitating the planet. When Lilith Iyapo is "awakened", she finds that she has been chosen to revive her fellow humans in small groups by first preparing them to meet the utterly terrifying aliens, then training them to survive on the wilderness that the planet has become. But the aliens cannot help humanity without altering it forever.

Nexus: Nexus, Book 1

In the near future, the nano-drug Nexus can link mind to mind. There are some who want to improve it. There are some who want to eradicate it. And there are others who just want to exploit it. When a young scientist is caught improving Nexus, he’s thrust over his head into a world of danger and international espionage, with far more at stake than anyone realizes.

Terms of Enlistment: Frontlines, Book 1

The year is 2108, and the North American Commonwealth is bursting at the seams. For welfare rats like Andrew Grayson, there are only two ways out of the crime-ridden and filthy welfare tenements, where you’re restricted to 2,000 calories of badly flavored soy every day. You can hope to win the lottery and draw a ticket on a colony ship settling off-world, or you can join the service. With the colony lottery a pipe dream, Andrew chooses to enlist in the armed forces for a shot at real food, a retirement bonus, and maybe a ticket off Earth.

Lock In (Narrated by Wil Wheaton)

Not too long from today, a new, highly contagious virus makes its way across the globe. Most who get sick experience nothing worse than flu, fever, and headaches. But for the unlucky one percent - and nearly five million souls in the United States alone - the disease causes "Lock In": Victims fully awake and aware, but unable to move or respond to stimulus. The disease affects young, old, rich, poor, people of every color and creed. The world changes to meet the challenge.

The Ember War: Publisher's Pack, Books 1-2

The Ember War, book 1: The Earth is doomed. Humanity has a chance. In the near future, an alien probe arrives on Earth with a pivotal mission: to determine if humanity has what it takes to survive the impending invasion by a merciless armada. The probe discovers Marc Ibarra, a young inventor who holds the key to a daring gambit that could save a fraction of Earth's population. Humanity's only chance lies with Ibarra's ability to keep a terrible secret and engineer the planet down the narrow path to survival.

Star Carrier: Lost Colonies, Book 3

Earth builds her first war fleet! The greatest warships ever constructed in known space rise up one by one, soon dominating our skies. They strike fear into the hearts of every citizen and rebel colonist alike. Captain William Sparhawk, the very man who convinced the secretive Council to build this terrifying fleet, now has doubts about the project. What is their exact mission? How could anyone have built these huge ships so quickly? And, most puzzling of all, what's happening out at the isolated laboratory complex on Phobos, Mars' lopsided moon?

Into the Black: Odyssey One

Captain Eric Weston and his crew encounter horrors, wonders, monsters, and people; all of which will test their resolve, challenge their abilities, and put in sharp relief what is necessary to be a hero. A first-rate military-science-fiction epic that combines old-school space opera and modern storytelling, Into the Black: Odyssey One is a riveting, exhilarating adventure with vivid details, rich mythology, and relentless pacing.

Battle Cruiser: Lost Colonies, Book 1

One starship will either save Earth or destroy her. A century ago our star erupted, destroying Earth's wormhole network and closing off trade with her colonized planets. After being out of contact with the younger worlds for so many years, humanity is shocked when a huge ship appears at the edge of the solar system. Our outdated navy investigates, both curious and fearful. What they learn from the massive vessel shocks the planet.

The Spaceship Next Door

When a spaceship landed in an open field in the quiet mill town of Sorrow Falls, Massachusetts, everyone realized humankind was not alone in the universe. With that realization everyone freaked out for a little while. Or almost everyone. The residents of Sorrow Falls took the news pretty well. This could have been due to a certain local quality of unflappability, or it could have been that in three years the ship did exactly nothing other than sit quietly in that field, and nobody understood the full extent of this nothing the ship was doing better than the people who lived right next door.

Artifact

Deep in the Indian Ocean, Dr. Selene Khan enters an underwater dome thousands of years old, one that is fully operational. She barely escapes to the surface, only to discover that her research vessel has vanished. Can she make it to shore 100 miles away? On the other side of the world, Agent Jack Elliot uncovers an impossible 900 grams of antimatter. The trail leads him to Egypt, betrayal, and a sinister brainwashing facility. There, in a desperate move, he rescues Dr. Selene Khan.

The Battle of the Void: The Ember War, Book 6

The Xaros drove humanity to the edge of extinction. Now, an immense alien fleet is on the way to Earth to end the human race. Earth's defenses are in shambles. The planet needs time to ready for the next invasion, time it doesn't have. The Xaros are en route to Earth, and it will take a daring mission to buy Earth the chance it needs to survive the next attack. While a fleet of brave men and women prepare to face down the Xaros, the Breitenfeld travels to an ancient world where the key to ultimate victory lies buried beneath the crimes of the enigmatic Malal.

Into the Storm: Destroyermen, Book 1

Pressed into service when World War II breaks out in the Pacific, the USS Walker---a Great-War vintage "four-stacker" destroyer---finds itself in full retreat from pursuit by Japanese battleships. Its captain, Lieutenant Commander Matthew Patrick Reddy, knows that he and his crew are in dire straits. In desperation, he heads Walker into a squall, hoping it will give them cover---and emerges somewhere else.

Koban: Conflict and Empire

The Galactic Federation is confronted by the vast and implacable Thandol Empire, which has coveted the former Krall region of space for eons, a region of space now occupied and claimed by the upstart Kobani. Outnumbered, they face an opponent who possesses new and deadly weapons. An enemy that had thousands of years to develop the means to take on the Krall Empire, and now present the supermen with a weapon that turns their greatest genetic asset into their greatest weakness.

Warrior King: Odyssey One, Book 5

Battle-weary after a desperate fight to save Earth from the Drasin alien onslaught, Confederation Captain Eric Weston is tasked with a perilous new mission. He and the crew of the Odysseus must hunt down those who unleashed the hellish attack on his homeworld and that of Earth's Priminae allies.

Steel World: Undying Mercenaries, Book 1

In the 20th century Earth sent probes, transmissions, and welcoming messages to the stars. Unfortunately, someone noticed. The Galactics arrived with their battle fleet in 2052. Rather than being exterminated under a barrage of hell-burners, Earth joined their vast Empire. Swearing allegiance to our distant alien overlords wasn't the only requirement for survival. We also had to have something of value to trade, something that neighboring planets would pay their hard-earned credits to buy. As most of the local worlds were too civilized to have a proper army, the only valuable service Earth could provide came in the form of soldiers....

Publisher's Summary

When the Rho Project’s lead scientist, Dr. Donald Stephenson, is imprisoned for his crimes against humanity, the world dares to think the threat posed by the Rho Project’s alien technologies is finally over. The world is wrong. In Switzerland, scientists working on the Large Hadron Collider have discovered a new threat, a scientific anomaly capable of destroying the earth - and only Rho Project technology can stop it. In exchange for a full pardon, Dr. Stephenson agrees to create a wormhole that will send the anomaly into deep space.

But his promise masks the alien agenda that brought the Rho Ship to earth. Now a trio of accidentally altered humans must infiltrate Stephenson’s wormhole project and stop it, no matter the cost. The final battle has begun - and this is one battle mankind cannot afford to lose.

This book is what you' d get if you put James Bond and the Disney Witch Mountain series into a blender. This is a great book and is actually the best of the three in this series in my opinion. This is so action packed and over the top, but it works beautifully. This ends the series well but leaves plenty to explore in the next book (which he is currently working on).

Macleod Andrews is top notch. There are a lot of characters and each sounds different. In fact, none of the myriad of voices even sound similar to characters in other series he reads. How he pulls that off is beyond me. Simply Amazing. This is a great novel and definitely worth a listen.

I got hooked into this immensely interesting universe by a couple of good reviews and a special price for the first of the three books. The pricing set at $9.79 per book with each providing from 11 - 15 hours of great entertainment wasn't necessary to keep me going, but it sure didn't hurt. This pricing may not last, so I would recommend not burning a credit here and picking up as many as your pocketbook will allow.

My wife is currently delighting in book two of this series and she isn't even a science fiction fan - she is just a fan of a well written book. You will find three of them in the Rho Agenda series.

These books were so enjoyable, I actually could have been talked into using two credits on the last one. I loved the story-lines, the science felt right and the characters were superbly handled. Most importantly the ending was satisfying and still left me wanting more.

Although a lot of loose ends were sewn up in this series finale, I was left wondering about a special talent that Jack Greggory possessed and the status of a certain newly born child.

And - Lo and behold, my check of the listings for this author shows a new book has just popped up into my view that purports to explain my first question about Jack. It is selling for only $7.90 and weighing in at 11 hours already has 120 favorable reviews.

I'm definitely not going to use up a credit here (they cost me more) and get this book as soon as this review gets submitted.

The story telling was exceptional and the narration was great. For many key events, the author "rewinds" and re-tells the scene from a different character's perspective. Beware, it is hard to put down (or turn off) this book. I whipped through all three books in under two weeks. I found myself listening any chance I could get.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Wormhole?

I liked the imprisonment, "attempted" torturer, and escape. Plus the ending was pretty epic and didn't pull any punches.

Any additional comments?

Bravo Mr. Phillips. This was an extremely well done series that just kept getting better book-to-book. As I mentioned in my review of "Immune," I could see this story being produced into a TV series such as how Game of Thrones was done. It was fun envisioning how that would be done as I read/listened. The characters were well developed, especially by this third book, and you do come to care for them.

There have been reviewers saying this is teen/YA fare, but alas, I say NO. I think Richard Phillips simply accomplished a great feat of making it appeal to all ages Teen and up (especially the last two books.) In fact, some material may not be appropriate for young teens. I am pushing 50 and thoroughly enjoyed this story to no end!!

There were a few loose ends that were unexplored that I'm hoping will be used in a forth book. I don't know if a fourth book is in the works, but he left it open for one. If i have a vote, PLEASE write one more!!

For me the alien science/technology was extremely compelling and presented in a reasonable manner, making the evolution of the characters and story that much more plausible. The characters were very interesting and I loved the teens unbridled approach to solving problems (being young, you are not saddled with experience and wisdom that might hold you back).

Who was your favorite character and why?

Likely Heather, but Mark was a very close second. Although Heather started out as a typical teen, she grew into her new capabilities and basically owned it. I liked her approach to problem solving and her brutal resolve in carrying out actions once a decision was made. She still retained great humanity, though, and experienced sincere regret towards harming others.

I should add, that although not a character in the true sense, the second ship was extremely interesting and full of surprises. I could not wait for that next trip to the ship, or attachment with the headsets and learning more of what the ship had to offer. The scene where the teens interact and spar with the ships AI was fascinating! And the result can easily justify a spinoff book (I am hoping!!!).

Have you listened to any of MacLeod Andrews’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This was my first listen to McLeod Andrews. Overall he did a great job performing this book. His development of the characters was believable and lent strongly to my personal view of each one. Well done!

Any additional comments?

I happened upon the first book, "The Second Ship", and quickly became deeply attached. As soon as book two, then finally three were released I was all over them. The trilogy absolutely did not disappoint. To me, everything was reasonable and believable, with the right mix of alien technology, advanced science, and clever storytelling to keep me wanting more. In fact that is my only gripe - that the book ended and I could easily see another book in the series, or perhaps a spin off. My favorite part (spanning all three books) was the way the alien technology "evolved" the human brains of the main characters but they were free to use their newfound capabilities as they saw fit. Tremendous processing power and the freedom to explore at will, unhindered. Additionally, the second ship itself is extremely interesting and compelling. And as it gives up details information of its origins, the battle that damaged it, and the back story on the species that created both ships I found myself in awe of the whole thing.

Very well presented. I loved it! Please add one more book on the future of everyone involved at the end (don't want to give anything away).

The three high school kids from The Second Ship and Immune are back, and they once again must foil the mad scientist hellbent on global domination (despite having already foiled him in Immune). More than that, they must save the world from a black hole and an alien invasion (though they cannot save the world from its own insanity, including nuclear bombs).

The watchword for Richard Phillips in the first installment of this trilogy was how well he put the science back in science fiction, having studied and worked as a physicist. The next entry was lighter on science and heavier on action, but still retained its credibility, despite banking on Area 51 conspiracies as its basis.

Wormhole remains strong on science and long on action. But its credibility is riddled by plot holes wide enough for space ships to fly through. I can't be too specific in order to avoid spoilers, but let me say that there is a major transference from one character to another that is never brought up again.

I would expect this to reappear in a future Rho Agenda book, except that Phillips says he has no plans for a direct successor to the series. Anyway, this plot twist is as central to this story as one can imagine, so it really needed more attention here. There are other situations which are left unattended, and other revelations that strain credulity, even as the two-hour denouement goes totally over the top and off the charts.

Still, a good science fiction thriller, a decent conclusion to this trilogy. One star deducted from the Story rating for the plot holes. I already have the audio version of the first of two completed entries in a second Rho Agenda trilogy, a prequel featuring Jack "Ripper" Gregory. He's a great character so I have high expectations.

Wormhole completes the Rho Agenda trilogy, while the characters may continue in additional installments, the "rho agenda" has been finished. Book 3 picks up essentially where Book 2 left off. All the main characters are back (including Tolbear and Freddy) with the kids down in South America with Jack. We learn a bit more of Donald Stephenson's master plan which eventually forms the crux of the tale and includes the potential destruction of Earth. Everything goes badly for our intrepid teenagers at first, but with Jack's training and their ever expanding abilities, they come through in the end. The story is fast paced with constant shifting among multiple parallel scenes.

The story remains true to its pre-teen / teen orientation in style and complexity. Portrayals of scientists, politicians, and spies are almost caricature-like with little nuance. At the same time Jack still retains almost mystical powers that defy explanation (I was hoping he would turn out to be a nonscientist Ultrian agent). Inconvenient messes generated along the way never seem to be resolved. The ending while bringing closure to the main plot line, still leaves many questions unanswered (what about: the 2nd ship? Jack's son? the NSA hacker?). In spite of these deficiencies, the tale is simply good, solid storytelling.

The narration is quite good with a great range of voices and a pace that invites one more chapter throughout.

Start at the 2nd ship and then progress to end. It's REALLY worth the money. The story is very original, complex, and well thought out. The author creates situations that should only be presented to adults, without sinking into un-necessary details (one doesn't have to smell the excrement to know that it stinks). Why don't other authors do that?I'll definitely look for other titles by this author.

Also, the Narrator does a great job. I hope the publisher doesn't do something stupid like using a different narrator to save money.

This book, although a really interesting story and I'm still tempted to buy it to read myself, was incredibly difficult to follow due to the incredibly poor narrating. Really cringey reading and didn't flow very well. Nevertheless, if you're into fantasy stories I think it would be a really interesting book to read yourself. Particularly apt for anyone who enjoyed The Host or Hunger Games.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Didn't make it that far.

Would you be willing to try another one of MacLeod Andrews’s performances?

No

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Irrational irritation at the narrators voice

Any additional comments?

none.

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James

5/15/15

Overall

Performance

Story

"Good SciFi trilogy. Interesting tread."

Good narration. Great trilogy. well worth the credits. Flowed well and kept to the plot. no overly complicated plot and story line. Well written . kept your interest through all three books.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

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